Don't Take The Girl
by SVU13Forever
Summary: Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson are put on the case of seventeen-year-old Samara Williams; a rape victim who has been sexually assaulted five times for the last four years. Someone is desperately trying to tamper with every piece of evidence the squad can get. Will they find her rapist or will he walk away and continue his ways of dominance? (Rating explanation inside).
1. Victim

**Rated M for language and mild description of sexual violence.**

"That perp ain't going anywhere for a while," Odafin Tutuola said, dropping a file down in front of Elliot Stabler. He picked it up, flipping through the case with a smirk, "Case closed."

"Good to see justice being done," Elliot commented, closing the file and storing it in his desk. "Have you seen Liv?"

"Yeah, she's with the captain…he's not happy about how you two handled the situation, but he'll get over it easier now that that dirt-bag's behind bars."

"Why didn't he call me in with her?"

"You think I'd know the method to his madness?" Fin retorted, shaking his head, "Sorry, you can ask him yourself if he calls you in." Elliot rolled his eyes and went back to the stack of paperwork in front of him. John Munch stepped out from the office and glanced over at Elliot with a sympathetic look.

"Get ready for it. The captain might want to talk to you next if he doesn't take it all out on her first."

"Why didn't he call me in then?" Elliot demanded, standing up. Munch shrugged.

"He knows you two work well together…maybe to keep the story straight he wants to talk to you separately."

"I doubt it…"

Olivia Benson stepped out of the office about twenty minutes later, sighing as she sat down across from her partner, "What'd he say?" Elliot asked, writing away on the papers for a long moment before glancing up at her questioningly. Olivia gave him a knowing look before replying.

"That he'll have our asses the next time we decide to go back into the case once it was declared closed." She said, starting on her paperwork. "That we almost cost him another ten days suspension out of work."

"We had all of the evidence we needed to convict that man, there was no way we could let him walk free," he said, "he raped three women and a child…I'd walk out that front door and never look back before that son of a bitch got off without any charges."

"Well, usually I'd back off but I couldn't agree more," Olivia said with a nod.

"I need to talk to a detective."

"Of course…may I ask if you're alright?" Cragen replied, glancing over the young woman in front of him. She looked shaken, and the bruises on her face looked fresh.

"I'd like to discuss this with a detective," she demanded, "I can't—um, I don't want to discuss this with anyone else, I'm sorry…"

"It's alright," he nodded, "Benson, Stabler…" She glanced over his shoulder to see the two detectives stand up and walk over to their spot. She cringed, backing up.

"I want to talk to her…please." Her hand shook as she pointed to Olivia.

"Come on," Olivia said, reaching out to her slowly, "We'll take this into a questioning room, this way." Olivia shrugged at Elliot's silent question and followed the young girl into the first room. Olivia closed the door carefully and sat down across from the her.

"Um…you can probably tell these bruises weren't self-inflicted or accidental, right?" She sniffed, laughing at the obvious. Lifting her hand, she brought it to her eyes and rubbed the moisture away, wincing at the pain.

"Somebody hurt you," it wasn't a question. The girl nodded, "I need to ask you a few questions so we can put your file on the record, is that alright?" She nodded again. "Okay, good. Let's start with your name."

"My name is Samara Williams," she answered, "I'm seventeen, or just turned seventeen."

"Okay," Olivia answered, jotting down the newfound information, "Samara, can you tell me what happened? Who did this to you?"

"I don't know," Samara sighed, "I've never seen his face."

"Has this man harassed you before?"

"Uh, yes…five times…" she looked down at her hands, ashamed, "three times he's physically hit me…five times he's raped me. Since the time I was thirteen."

"Samara, that's four years…why didn't you tell anyone?" Olivia asked, hurting for her.

"I was scared!" She sobbed, her voice breaking, "He's threatened me…I wake up at night and sometimes he's there, sitting at the end of my bed watching me sleep and other times when I'm home alone he talks to me through the vent to my bedroom!" Her eyes wetting again, "He tells me to behave! To be his good little _slut_…he's only raped me five times but I don't know why he doesn't just kill me already!"

"Shhh…it's okay Samara," Olivia whispered, "It's okay…I don't want to upset you." Samara wiped at her eyes again and Olivia watched her for a moment, "This is why you didn't want my partner in here…does Detective Stabler intimidate you?" Samara nodded and dried her eyes.

"I don't want that to offend him…"

"Don't worry, he's got a tough skin," Olivia reassured her with a small smile, "did you ever see anything that might be useful about your rapist? Hair? Eyes? Skin color? Did you know him at all? Was his voice familiar?"

"Uh, his eyes were…green. I've only seen him once in light. As for his hair, it looked like a very dark brown—maybe black." Samara answered, "He's white…and he has a scar that runs from his right eye to the corner of his mouth. His mask doesn't cover his whole face. He had uh, a muscular jaw…he—he bit me constantly. He marked me," she said, crying again. "I don't recognize him at all, but I suspect he's been following me around for the last four or five years. His voice is gravelly, I'd know it if I heard it. I don't ever remember seeing him any other times without a mask…I don't recognize him at all."

"Alright…is there anything else you can tell me? Anything at all will be a big help."

"Um…I think he works out regularly. When he pins me down, I can't get him off of me. His chest is hard." Olivia nodded one last time and stood up.

"I'm going to call your parents, okay?" She asked, "Just stay here and I'll be back in a few minutes."

"I don't want to stay here alone, detective." Samara called out, "Can someone stay in here with me, please?"

"Uh, my partner Detective Stabler can…I don't know if you want him to."

"It's alright. I'll be fine…he's a cop." Olivia stepped out, motioning for Elliot to go in. She knew he'd be listening; it was now his case just as much as it was hers.

"Is she sure she wants me in there, Liv?" He asked.

"You can go in," Olivia replied, "just keep some space between her. Stay towards the windows, not at the door and maybe she'll be alright." Elliot nodded and headed in, offering a gentle 'hello'.

"Hello," Samara replied, looking down at the table, "you're Detective Stabler."

"I am," he said, "would you like me to keep the door open?"

"Uh sure," she answered with a shaky voice, "you won't hurt me."

"No, I won't. I'm a cop, it's my job to protect you," Elliot reasoned, leaning against the wall next to the mirror.

"I know you heard," she said after a moment, "I know that's one-way glass…and I know this place can be muted at the push of a button. It's okay…like you said, you're a cop. You can ask whatever you want."

"Well you see, Samara, I'm not here to interrogate you. And my partner's already asked you what we need to know." He watched her carefully, though she never looked up, "Now it's our turn. We're going to find this man and we're going to put him behind bars so he can't hurt you anymore."

"What if you can't find him?"

"Nine times out of ten we do."

"I'll be that tenth time…" Samara sighed defeated. Elliot slowly made it over to the table, leaning against his palms.

"You won't be. We will catch him." She finally looked up, cowering back into her chair. He sat down so he wasn't towering over her and she visibly relaxed, "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," she said, meeting his eyes, "You didn't rape me…I didn't tell anyone before, so you couldn't prevent it."

"You're right, but I can now," he replied, "that's all that matters at the moment."

"Do you have kids, detective?" She implored quietly. Elliot nodded.

"I have five kids," he responded.

"Do you ever treat the victims like they were your kids?"

"Sometimes," Elliot said with a shrug, "depends on if they deserve the treatment or not. If it's a child that's raped, yes. If it's an adult, I'd treat them respectfully. But if they lie about it, then I have to turn into the bad cop." Samara nodded, biting her lip. She looked pleased with the answer and thanked him. They fell into a silence for a few minutes.

"Do you think I'm lying?" She asked. Elliot looked taken back; her questioned confused him.

"That eye tells me no." He said, "And _I_ say no as well. You're shaken by my presence…unless you're a sociopath, I don't see why you would be lying. Samara, we will catch him."

Olivia returned then, mentioning to Samara that her parents would be down at the precinct in about twenty minutes. "Mother's on her way from work, father's on his way from home."

"If her father was at home, where was she last attacked?"

"We'll ask her again when her parents arrive. She doesn't recognize the man, El. It couldn't be her father…unless a scar runs from his eye to his lip, I don't think it's him at all."

"He could be one hell of a cover up, too."

"I doubt it. Nobody could keep up an act like that for four years…the scar would have to be fake and in the same place, same alignment as the last time. I don't think it'd be him." Elliot shrugged but didn't disagree. Samara had followed them quietly, but they spoke too low for her to hear.

XxxxX

"Olivia, Samara's parents just arrived, they're coming up," Elliot said, hanging up the phone.

"Okay, I'll go and get them. Be right back," she pushed out from her desk and headed to the elevator, riding down to the lobby. She spotted them immediately; they were the only frantic people there at the moment, and they were asking for Samara. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Williams? I'm Detective Olivia Benson from the Special Victims Unit. I called you on the phone. Your daughter's upstairs with my partner at the moment, I can take you up there to see her."

"Is she alright? I she badly hurt at all?" Mrs. Williams begged.

"She's good for the moment. A few cuts and bruises but nothing too major." Olivia answered, "Samara's a little shaken, however."

"Can you bring us to her?" Mr. Williams asked, relief flooding his voice at the news she was alright. Olivia nodded and they headed upstairs.

"She's right in here." Before they could be stopped, they rushed to her side; Samara shrank back, frightened by the fast movement, covering her face in defense. It nearly broke her parents' hearts; both Olivia and Elliot felt empathy for the young girl. Elliot, from experience with Kathleen, and Olivia from her own childhood.

"Samara, it's just us," Mrs. Williams said, holding back her tears. She hesitantly wrapped her arms around her daughter and finally cried. "My poor baby. I'm so sorry!" They allowed the parents a few minutes to calm down before they asked to speak with them privately.

"Right in that room right there," Olivia said, Elliot in tow as they entered the question room again. "We just need to ask a few questions…part of procedure. Is that alright?"

"Yes," Mr. Williams replied, holding his wife's hand.

"Do you know where Samara was today?"

"She was in school until three. Usually she goes for a walk around the neighborhood once she gets home…she's old enough to and it allows her to have some space." Mrs. Williams explained, "Samara knows better than to go off with a stranger."

"You don't think she'd willingly go with someone she didn't know, do you?" Her father asked, suddenly very sick.

"We don't know," Elliot said truthfully, "but it doesn't look like a situation she'd go through willingly." He was honestly amazed this girl was still alive, but the perp definitely wanted something from her if he was keeping her alive. Even his blood boiled at the thought of anyone touching an innocent child; regardless of if she was his kid or not.

"Has Samara had any changes in behavior that you ever noticed?"

"She stopped talking to her friend Jason about two years ago." Her mother offered, "But her rape only just happened…could he possibly have done it?" Olivia glanced over at Elliot sadly.

"Well, breaking off some sort of a relationship could be used as a motive, but it doesn't seem strong enough if they just fell out." Olivia said, "but this isn't the first time he's sexually assaulted her. Samara mentioned this time being the fifth."

"Five times?"

"She was too afraid to tell anyone," Olivia defended gently, "most teenagers who are sexually assaulted experience shame in the mix of their emotions. Detachment, fear, anxiety…they're all triggered from something traumatizing. In Samara's case, her rape has caused some detachment and fear."

"Can we get Jason's last name as well?" Elliot asked, "We need to rule out every suspect. Anyone close to Samara."

"Jason Lauff."

XxxxX

**Lauff Residence  
131-04 125****th**** Street, Manhattan, NY  
Friday, January 10**

"How do we know Jason's the guy? A broken relationship—a friendship at most, isn't much of a motive to rape somebody." Olivia said, walking beside her partner as they made it up the street to the apartment building.

"Liv, we've had cases that didn't even have a strong enough motive. Hell, some even didn't have a motive, or intentions to kill but it still happened. He's a teenage boy…hormones, anger management…revenge? Maybe he's a little out of it. We won't know until we at least investigate him."

"But what about the scar? Samara specifically, in detail, gave us the information on it. She's never seen even the guy before…she would know if it were him, wouldn't she?" Olivia tried, pushing her hair back behind her ear.

"They haven't spoken in two years…maybe he got into an accident that caused him a permanent, new scar." Elliot said, about ready to ring the bell, "His appearance could have changed."

"This perp has raped her for four years though…do you think Jason might have had something against her then to?"

"It's possible." He replied. He pushed the button, waiting for the response.

"Who is it?" A female voice called.

"NYPD, Detectives Stabler and Benson. Can we speak to your son, Jason Lauff?" Elliot said. There was no response at first, but then there was a buzz indicating the door was unlocked. They stepped inside and headed up the flight of stairs to the apartment.

"What did my son do this time?" She accused as soon as she opened the door. She looked pissed, but also not surprised.

"This time?" Olivia questioned, "What has Jason done before?"

"My son has been a druggie these last couple of months…a little over a year at most." Ms. Lauff said, allowing them inside, "I caught him, sent him to rehab. He relapsed, all that crap." She sighed, shaking her head, "He used to be a good kid…things changed though."

"When did they change?"

"About six months ago, when his father died. A little bit before then, but I don't remember when it started."

"Is your son around, Ms. Lauff?" Elliot asked, looking around the apartment.

"He's out with some friends at the moment. Um, what is it that he's done now? Nothing illegal I hope…I swear to god I'll ground him for life if he violated his parole again…Jesus—,"

"Well, we're not sure if he did it but he used to be friends with Samara Williams. Do you know her?"

"Yeah…blonde, uh, smart. They used to be good friends, she'd come around a lot. Sweet girl," Ms. Lauff smiled sadly, "Nothing's happened to her right?"

"Uh not exactly. We can't explain too much of the case, but recently she brought it to our attention that someone has been sexually assaulting her for the last couple of years. We just need to get a statement from Jason."

"Oh god! Do you think he did this to her?"

"We don't know that," Olivia replied, "we're just ruling out everyone who was or is close to her."

"Does your son have any scars on his face?"

"Uh…one above his right eye. Knife pulled on him from a dealer…I nearly killed that boy, I was so mad."

"Any others? From fighting, maybe?"

"Nah…not any visible ones," she said, shaking her head, "Just one above the eye. He should be home soon, do you want to wait for him?"

"No that's all right. We'll come back in a little while." Elliot answered, "We have some other things to take care of. We will need to take him down to the precinct once we find him, though. Here's my card if he comes home before we return." The detectives exited the apartment then, stepping out onto the street once the door shut behind them.

"His mother doesn't watch him, doesn't know where he is half the time. Jason's almost eighteen, which means he's almost legally an adult and allowed to go wherever he wants." Olivia said, listing off the facts on her fingers.

"And Brooklyn's not far from Manhattan. Which also means that Jason has enough time to get there and rape Samara."

"We don't know if it's him, though. He doesn't have a scar from his eye to his mouth, his mother can attest to that."

"Well we'll see for ourselves once we get the kid in questioning." They got back into the car and headed down for the station.

XxxxX

"Any news on the boy?" Fin asked as Elliot threw his keys down on his desk; Olivia sat down at her computer and typed in some information, hoping to find more.

"Jason wasn't home when we got there. His mother was, and she doesn't seem too surprised that we showed up." She said, pulling up his previous files, "it seems that Jason has violated his parole once. I'm trying to see what he was sentenced to parole for, and how many other things he's done that's made his mother unresponsive."

"So what'd the mother say?" Munch looked up from his paperwork, glancing between the two detectives at the laptop.

"He has a scar above the right eye from a drug dealer pulling a knife on the kid, but it's not the scar Samara described." Elliot explained, watching over Olivia's shoulder.

"Maybe she got confused and only thought she saw a scar? She could have been in shock after being raped multiple times." Fin pointed out, "She's only seen him once in daylight and even then he was wearing a mask, right?"

"Right," Olivia said, "but she's positive that every time he's come back for her he had a scar running down the right side of his face."

"That's a coincidence," Munch remarked, putting his pen down to fold his hands together, "both Jason and Samara's rapist have a scar on the right side of their faces…both next to the eye."

"You think maybe this drug dealer brands his customers?" Fin questioned. Munch shrugged.

"Possible."

"That's one hell of a brand." Elliot commented, "Speaking hypothetically. We don't know if Samara and Jason even know this perp, let alone him using the same drug dealer as Jason."

"It's worth a look-in. That perp knows Samara." The phone rang then, on Elliot's desk. He reached across the two desks and picked it up.

"Detective Elliot Stabler," he greeted, listening as the caller spoke on the other end. Olivia looked up at him and he nodded, "Alright, we'll be right down."

"Did Jason go home?" She asked once he hung it up.

"Yeah, and we're about to go get him and bring him in for a little questioning."

XxxxX

**Lauff Residence  
131-04 125th Street, Manhattan, NY  
Friday, January 10**

Second time that day, Elliot pushed the button; the annoying buzz caught the attention of Ms. Lauff once again, "Come on up." They pulled the door open and made their way back upstairs to the front door. "Jason's in the living room."

"Jason Lauff," Olivia said, walking past his mother into the other room; they held their badges up and Jason glared at his mother.

"You called the friggin' cops on me?" He demanded, pulling his headphones out, "Why? What the hell did I do this time, mom?"

"Well we won't know that until we can get a statement from you," Elliot replied, "we need to take you down to the precinct."

"You can't ask your questions here?"

"It would be more efficient, and easier for us to do our jobs if we could bring you down there." Olivia explained calmly. Jason rolled his eyes.

"Look I just got home…I'm tired. So just ask your questions now."

"That's not how it's going to work, Jason," Elliot said, strict. He was growing impatient with Jason as the boy's arrogance grew to an all-time high. "We don't care if you were too busy shooting up, chasing girls, or whatever you were doing that made you exhausted. We need to ask you questions about Samara Williams. You remember her, don't you?"

"Oh crap," Jason froze, "what happened?"

"Are you willing to head down to the precinct now?" Olivia asked.

"Uh yeah, yeah, sure."

"That's Jason Lauff. What the hell is he doing here?" Samara demanded, crossing her arms over herself defensively, "We haven't spoken in years, why is he here?"

"We need him to answer a few questions."

"Whoa wait…y-you think Jason raped me, don't you?" She looked disgusted at the thought and shook her head quickly, "No he didn't do this…he doesn't even have a scar on his face."

"Actually he does, just not the one you described." Elliot responded, "but he was once a good friend of yours. It's only necessary that we get the suspects out of the way in order to find the one responsible. It's possible that he could know the man who raped you."

"Well I don't want to talk to him." Samara said finally.

"You don't have to," Olivia reassured her. She followed Elliot into the room and sat down across from Jason. Elliot pressed his back to the wall by the door and Jason shook nervously, waiting for them to speak.

"Samara…s-she's not—she's not _dead_, is she?" He whispered, growing sicker at the mention.

"No, she's not. However, she was raped—,"

"Oh my god!"

"Jason calm down, Samara is alright right now. She's here, she can't be touched."

"Can I talk to her?"

"Uh not at the moment," Elliot answered, "we need to get the questions out of the way first." Jason nodded in understanding but he was growing impatient. He wanted to talk to Samara. "Where were you earlier today?"

"You don't think I raped her, do you?" Jason accused, jumping to conclusions.

"No, we don't. But we also don't know if you're lying to us."

"I'm not lying!" Jason yelled, standing up, "Why would I ever rape her? She was my best friend!" He walked over to the window and sighed, shaking his head frantically.

"Well you two had a pretty messy falling out; so we were told. Why don't you start by telling us about that?" Olivia suggested, her eyes were trained on him.

"Samara…after her brother died—uh, he took his own life about four years ago, right around the time we stopped talking. I tried to be there for her, but she grew more and more distant. I tried to give her space when it happened. I wanted her to talk to me but she just kept pushing me away. Then she started talking to Andrew Clallum…she looked happy and it really pissed me off because Andrew knew—she told him about her brother, but she wouldn't talk to me. I just wanted to help her, but she didn't want my help." The door flew open then and Samara marched in; she looked angry. Cragen stood behind her, trying to get her back out into the other room.

"Andrew didn't know about my brother!" She corrected, her chest heaving with anger.

"Samara, go back out there," Elliot said, slowly approaching her, "we're questioning Jason." Samara ignored him and kept her attention focused on the seventeen year old on the other side of the room. "Samara."

"I didn't tell him anything about Aaron. He never even questioned me about him, unlike you! You kept bringing the thoughts back!"

"Well I'm sorry for caring, Samara, but I wanted to be there for you!" Jason snapped, crossing the room. He stood only a few feet from her, his stance matching hers.

"You couldn't do anything! Coddling me sure as hell wasn't going to bring him back!" Samara retorted.

"Right and all this time I thought that if I _suffocated_ you it would resurrect your dead brother!" He hissed, glaring straight at her. Samara stepped forward, swinging her arm back before it connected with the skin of his cheek. He flinched, stunned that she actually hit him; it caused Elliot to jump in between them and Olivia to force her back out of the room. She was still yelling at him, sobbing.

"I can't believe you just said that to me! You were always an asshole and I can see that nothing's change!" She shouted, just as the door closed.

"What the hell were you thinking, Samara?" Olivia demanded, "you can't just barge into an investigation like that. Not to mention that you just assaulted him in front of two cops."

"He deserved it!" Samara replied, turning away, "I'm sorry…but we don't get along and we never will again." Olivia sighed and glanced through the window into the room at Elliot trying to calm Jason down. She turned back to Samara for a brief moment.

"We can't have you two fighting like cats and dogs, alright?" Samara sighed impatiently but nodded. Cragen turned the microphones in the room back on to listen in. When Olivia returned, they continued the investigation. "Sorry about that, Jason."

"I don't want her to hate me." Jason said quietly, looking down at his hands.

"She'll get over it," Elliot replied, resting back against the wall once again, "you can continue with your story."

"Uh…well shortly after we weren't friends anymore, I turned to drugs and made new friends. You've probably heard thousands of these stories, or just don't believe me. I wanted friends, and Samara was the only one I had until the drugs made me feel powerful."

"Jason, do you know of anyone who'd want to hurt Samara?" Jason shrugged.

"I didn't touch her."

"We're not asking if you did, we're asking if you knew of anyone who wanted to hurt her." Elliot repeated.

"Not really, no. I mean, she's smart so most of the kids made fun of her for it, but none of them seemed like they wanted dominance over her or anything. Maybe some of the pervy football players that get off on kinky shit like that, but that's typical jocks. They get tired of the cheerleaders and go after the brainiac or low self-esteem types."

"We don't think it's a jock," Olivia dismissed, "this guys has been after her for four years, surely a pervy football player would have moved on by then. She was only thirteen then."

"Four years? So you're saying her brother's death didn't distance her?"

"Well it was probably a contributing factor, but she's terrified—more often than not, she's terrified of men." Olivia explained, "for rape victims, it's not easy for them to hide fear. They can't disguise it and move on. It's almost like a disease of the mind, it tells them how to feel about a certain factor to a traumatizing experience."

"So Samara's afraid of me."

"Most likely." She nodded.

"I don't know who'd want to hurt her." Jason finally said.

"You don't know about anyone with a scar going from their eye to their mouth? Right side of the face?" Elliot interrogated. Jason thought about it a moment and shrugged again.

"Uh, actually…my brother, James, he was a sophomore in college last time he called—which was a few months ago. Lives just outside of Queens. He spoke to mom, we had a falling out also and so he doesn't call to talk to me. He probably dropped out of college by now..." Jason rambled on for a moment, "But the last time he called, he told mom about a bad scar he acquired from work."

"What does he do?"

"Don't know."

"What's his address?"

"I don't know."

"Look Jason," Elliot began, growing annoyed by his lack of family matters, "I know you two don't talk, we've established that, but you gotta give us something."

"Ask my mom, I don't know anything about him."

"Alright," Olivia said before Elliot could spit something out, "We'll go and talk to her again. Thank you, Jason, you're free to go." Jason stood up and left quickly, shoving past Samara as he left. "Those two are going to avoid each other like the plague now."

"You saw what happened, they clearly don't want to try and get along." Olivia sighed and nodded, heading out behind Elliot as they went back out to their desks to get more work done. They planned to head out tomorrow for further questioning; surely Ms. Lauff was going to be annoyed by them for being at her apartment for the third time that day. They'd give her a break for the rest of the day, much to Samara's dismay. Olivia typed in Lauff and pulled up more files, James' file catching her attention. "Looks like James has a record himself."

"What do you have on him?" Elliot asked, walking around the desk to her side.

"Looks like James here had charges pressed on him for credit card theft, identity theft, and assault."

"The whole family probably has a record," Elliot commented, reading through the file. "What's the assault?"

"Uh, school fight in 2003." Olivia read, "Credit card theft in '07, and identity theft in '09. Twenty-three years old…license was suspended last month for intoxicated driving, but it says his address is on 175th Street, still in Queens. Apartment 4G at the Grayson's Apartment building."

"Head up there tomorrow after we have a little follow up chat with his mother?"

"Sure."

XxxxX

**Lauff Residence  
131-04 125th Street, Manhattan, NY  
Saturday, January 11**

"What? What do you people want now? My son and I told you everything we knew about that girl and who could have harmed her." Ms. Lauff complained, leaving them at the door as she walked into the kitchen, "you people are persistent."

"Well the case is still open," Elliot said, brushing off her sudden ignorance. Many people gave them the same treatment after the second time of their visits, her attitude was nothing new from the last twelve years. "You didn't mention you had a second son."

"The question never came up. The whole conversation was directed at Jason. James hasn't been here in two years, he's busy with college so I didn't see it necessary."

"Well Jason mentioned that he called you a few months ago."

"He did."

"He also said that James told you about a newly acquired scar. We just wanted to know how it happened and where he got it from."

"James works at a bar; the _Utopia Wine & Liquor Outlet_. He said one of his customers was so drunk he pulled a knife on him when he refused to give him another drink." Ms. Lauff explained, "Anything else you want to pry out of me? Perhaps my husband's absence?"

"That won't be necessary, thank you." Elliot dismissed. They let themselves out and got back to the car, going over their facts. "Hopefully James can help us out."

"That depends on if he even knew Samara."

"Jason and Samara used to be friends; his mom said she always came around…if James left two years ago, he had to have been here when Samara came over." Olivia didn't disagree and they headed up to Queens to pay James a visit.

**A/N: What do you think so far? This is my first L&O: SVU fanfic, but not my first fanfic, so bear with me and please don't be mean :) **


	2. New Leads

**Residence of James Lauff  
Apartment 8A, 175****th**** Street, Queens, NY  
Saturday, January 11**

"James Lauff, open up!" Elliot yelled, banging on the front door, "It's the police, we're here to ask you a few questions." There was no response, and Elliot called for him again, "James!"

"What do you want?" Came a girl's voice as the door flew open. Her eyes were bloodshot, and the smoke filtered out into the hallway. The detectives tried their best not to choke on it and composed themselves quickly.

"Uh, who are you?" Olivia asked.

"Alison Dunn," she replied, throwing her cigarette butt onto the floor. The main hall looked like an ash tray; they could only imagine the rest of the apartment. "What do you want?" She asked again.

"We're looking for James Lauff, do you know him?"

"No, I'm just here in his apartment keeping it cozy," she retorted sarcastically, leaning against the door frame. Her eyes wandered downward and Elliot cleared his throat, bringing her attention back up.

"Look, we need to speak to James," he said impatiently, "Is he here for not?" The girl rolled her eyes and looked back into the living room as a male voice called for her.

"He's busy…"

"Well this is important," Olivia replied, following her partner past the girl into the apartment.

"Hey what the hell are you doing man? You can't just barge into his apartment!" She yelled, "Who the hell do you think you are? The cops?"

"Actually yes," Elliot said, smug. They stepped into the living room where more smoke assaulted their senses. There was another girl sitting down next to him, smoking two cigarettes at once. She didn't even look old enough. "You James Lauff?"

"Yeah, what's it to you?"

"Detective Elliot Stabler, this is my partner Olivia Benson. We need to ask you a few questions about Samara Williams, do you know her?" Elliot asked, holding his badge out.

"And if I do?"

"Look, you're from Brooklyn, stop acting like you're from the Bronx and get up. If you know Samara Williams you need to tell us now."

"Alright, alright. I know her," James said, standing up, "why do you need me?"

"For questioning. We need you down at the precinct for a statement, can you do that for us?" Olivia answered.

"Is she dead?"

"Not yet, but if you don't help us she might be."

"She was beat up then?"

"That's part of it, now are you gonna help us or not?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah, yeah sure," James nodded, "Ali, stay here I'll be back in a little while." They headed for the front door and Olivia lingered for a moment, pulling Elliot to the side.

"He doesn't have a scar on his face."

"Dead end," Elliot sighed, "but he still knows her, maybe he knows something Jason doesn't."

"That's a shot in the dark, El."

_XxxxX_

"So, how much do you know Samara Williams?" Elliot questioned, sitting down across from James.

"I know she used to be friends with my little shithead of a brother. Something happened there, but I didn't really care to know what. She used to come over after school with him; Samara was a geeky little thing…always quiet unless she was with Jason. Samara used to get bullied until Jason stuck up for her; I called him out on liking her, one time in front of her, he never gave me a straight response, but he didn't deny it either."

"Okay, so Jason had a crush on her?"

"A lot of guys did once she got into seventh grade," James smirked, "chest grew, curves filled out…she was a hot piece off a—,"

"Don't talk about our victim like that. We're not here to listen in to your sick fantasies."

"Hey man, I'm just giving you what you asked." Jason hissed, "And they weren't just mine…clearly." Elliot looked pissed but Olivia cut in.

"James, can you just back up to the bullying…did anyone stick out the most? Maybe they went after her more than the others?" Olivia asked, redirecting the conversation.

"I don't remember. I didn't hang around with little kiddies. I spent most of my summer get high and partying that year. Samara and Jason were little seventh graders. I was a senior in high school; haven't you people heard of social suicide?"

"Well we heard that you were a brilliant kid in high school," Elliot commented, "What happened? Because you sound an awful lot like my teenage daughter right now with that social suicide crap."

"Hey I didn't agree to coming down here so you could make commentary on my life, man." James snapped, leaning forward in the chair, "I'm telling you what I know about Samara, you want me to stop?"

"You can stop whenever, but I'll have to charge you with withholding evidence." Elliot said dangerously low.

"You can't do that to me, I didn't hurt her. I barely even know her, she's just the little dork that used to hang around my brother."

"Did anyone stick out that was potentially hurting Samara more than the others?" Olivia asked again, holding Elliot back some. James and Elliot glared at each other for a moment longer before James sighed and shook his head.

"I don't know…I don't remember," James said, calmer, "All I know is, her 'friend'—uh, Marissa…Melissa? –something close to that, was meaner than usual. Started caller her a slut because she thought Samara was banging the whole eighth grade once _things_ started filling out." James cut his eyes at Elliot before continuing, "The damn girl was still a virgin until the next year."

"Are you saying she had a boyfriend?" Olivia asked.

"Nah, she didn't have a boyfriend at all…she went crying to my mom one night; she said she was too afraid to tell anyone else. Jason was with friends and I got home from college for the holidays. She said some guy attacked her and tore her clothes off, you know, down there. I knew what she meant…she was raped."

"Do you know by who?"

"No. She didn't see him, but she knew he was older than her, maybe by two or three years."

"He was a high school kid then?" Elliot asked.

"I said two or three years didn't I? She was in eighth grade…makes him in at least tenth or eleventh." Elliot's jaw set, but he remained quiet.

"Can you think of anyone? Anyone at all?" Olivia asked, "Did you know any of the kids they went to school with? Maybe someone mentioned hurting Samara?"

"I don't know." James finally said, "I don't remember anyone saying anything about raping her."

"So if you knew about the first time she was raped, why didn't you say anything?" Elliot interrogated, walking around the table to the windows. James turned around to face him.

"Because it wasn't any of my damn business."

"Alright," Olivia said after a moment, "thank you, James. We'll set you free in a few moments. El, can I see you outside for a minute?" Elliot nodded and followed Olivia out. "Ms. Lauff never mentioned Samara telling her about the first time she was raped. She acted like she didn't even know about it."

"Why would she try and hide that kind of information?" Elliot asked, "She seems to care about Samara a lot."

"Maybe we should go and ask her."

"And maybe this time we'll ask her about where her husband's disappeared to."

_XxxxX_

**Lauff Residence  
131-04 125th Street, Manhattan, NY  
Saturday, January 11**

"Ugh not again..."

"Well if you had been honest with us the first time, ma'am, we wouldn't have needed to come back." Elliot said.

"What do you mean? I already told you all that I knew!" She said, outraged that they were accusing her. "I'm sorry if we weren't much help but this his harassment!"

"Why didn't you mention that you already knew about the first time Samara was raped?" Olivia asked slowly.

"I didn't know she was raped at all!"

"Well your son, James, says otherwise." Elliot responded, "So either he's lying, or you are. If you hold any of this information back you can be charged with withholding evidence."

"I'm not withholding any evidence! I don't know what you're talking about! Leave now or I'm going to sue the NYPD for harassment." Ms. Lauff yelled, slamming the door shut.

"What do you think?" Elliot asked, heading out. Olivia shrugged for a moment and sighed.

"I think she knows more than she's letting on. For one, James mentioned that she already knew about the first rape." Olivia said, "If we can get a hold of her ex-husband then maybe we'll find out more."

"We can ask Samara too; she never mentioned it either, but if she told Ms. Lauff then she would have to know."

"We'll start with her."

_XxxxX_

**16****th**** Precinct  
Manhattan, NY**

"It's too soon…you're not here because you found the guy, right?" Samara guessed, leaning back in her chair.

"Correct," Elliot said, closing the door, "We need to know what you told Jason's mother the first time you were raped."

"H-how do you know about that?"

"James told us," Olivia replied, "when we questioned him."

"You talked to James? But how did he know? She told him, didn't she?"

"No, James said he overheard it when he returned home that night." Elliot answered, sitting down next to Olivia, across from Samara. She backed up some, cowering back.

"I didn't even know that he was there." Samara finally said, biting her lip. She tried to think back to that night but she couldn't remember seeing or hearing James come in, "So he eavesdropped on me…typical James."

"Why do you say that?"

"He was a perv ever since he hit puberty."

"Yeah, well he's still one now," Elliot commented, "just not your pervert, so he's been ruled out."

"I know James wouldn't do that," she said with a sigh, "he has his share of sick fantasies, but he's not 'rapist low'." Elliot nodded, crossing his name out on the pad and looking up at the girl.

"We need you to tell us about that night…anything you can remember, Samara, will be helpful," Olivia said, folding her hands in front of her; they waited for her response, giving her time. Samara knew now was the time to be honest, she couldn't get in trouble for anything. She was the victim here, and she didn't do anything wrong. She was the last person she ever thought would be somebody's target but it seemed that this vulture got off on covered up, brainy girls. She knew girls at her school who were slutty, but they didn't ask for rape and she sure as hell never did.

"I was walking home from the library," she started, slowly brushing her bangs back from her eyes, "It was around nine-thirty because I remember being told by the librarian that they were closing for the night. I was only thirteen…it was stupid of me to walk home at night instead of call for a ride. It was October third, I think…kind of chilly but a thin-jacket type of weather. I don't think I put my jacket back on that night, it just kind of draped over my arm. He grabbed it from me about a mile from the library and pulled me into some bushes near the coffee shop…I didn't have enough time to scream; he wouldn't allow me too, either. He held a knife to my throat and told me that if I screamed he'd kill me. I think the knife had his initials engraved in it; it was only a pocket knife, but it was sharpened pretty well. I let him do it…I—um, I was a virgin then…so it hurt, a lot. After he was finished with me, he told me to behave and that he would be watching me. He said that if I left the town he would know, and that he would just follow me and kill me."

"What about afterwards? When you went to Jason's house?"

"I wanted to go home, but I felt so ashamed that I just couldn't. So I went to Jason's house…I knew he wouldn't be home that night; only Ms. Lauff was supposed to be home, so I went there and explained the situation to her. I was in so much pain and I was terrified that I didn't know what to do. I think I was in shock." Samara confessed the entire night, like it had just happened; she felt sick all over again and asked for some water. Olivia returned with some water and they continued the investigation, asking her about the other times. "Um, the second time he raped me was in my own home. I woke up to see him sitting on my bed, watching me. He stroked my face and whispered some vulgar things, before I heard him loosening his belt. He got on top of me then and…he shoved his hand down my pants," she sobbed, rubbing at her eyes furiously, "my parents were out for their anniversary…I knew they wouldn't be back for a few more hours. I just prayed that he would kill me…when he didn't, I just thought about being anywhere but there. When it was all over, he left and said I did a good job and that he would be back. I asked my mom if I could change my room because the way it was before just brought back too much from that night."

"What did you do with the sheets?" Olivia asked.

"I threw them out…I took them with me to the dump and cut them up, scattering them across the place. I couldn't look at them." Samara answered, shaking her head, "The third time, he had a friend of his make my own principle call me out of class; his friend took me from school and told the office that he was taking me for my gynecologist appointment. I really wanted to die…it was so much information that they didn't need to know. They looked at me like I was some fourteen year old whore." She let out a shaky breath and continued slowly, "His friend got me into the car and took me to an abandoned warehouse. He handed me over to the guy; wearing his mask again. This was the only time I saw him in daylight. While he was raping me he told me that I was a bad girl for leaving New York because my family and I had gone to Hawaii for a vacation. We had been gone for over two weeks. After he was done, he beat me up and left me there to bleed. It took every muscle in me to stand up despite the pain and I walked all the way home and cried for hours after that. I was fifteen that time."

"Okay, this is really good, Samara." Olivia said reassuringly, "can you explain the next two times and give us any other details on the guy?" She nodded and went on.

"The fourth time he beat me up again because my mother took me shopping in Boston; we took the train up there for a day. He made me leave my clothes on, but he put his hand down my pants and he used something that was sharp…I don't know what the object was. I was in so much pain but he took the cries like I was enjoying it." She blinked away more tears and sighed, "He raped me just before my parents came home and then he fled, telling me to behave and that if I left the state one more time he'd kill me for real." Samara said, "I found his threats empty because he left me alone for two years until he came back about week ago and raped me in one of the school stairwells. He locked the doors so nobody could get in. Our school's security sucks, and that's probably just my biased opinion but I don't think I'm wrong. It's taken every ounce of courage to leave my room and come here. But I had to tell someone."

"Does he use protection every time?"

"Yes…he says he doesn't need his little whore getting pregnant; he needs me to perform well." She cringed visibly and dried her eyes again.

"So no seminal fluids any of the times he's raped you." Olivia concluded; Samara nodded.

"I tried screaming for a teacher because he didn't have his knife that time, but he beat me to keep me quiet. He left after that and I went through the rest of the day saying I got into a fight. People believed me, but they made fun of me. I told me parents the same story and they asked why I didn't report it…I claimed it was because I dared the person too and that I would have been equally blamed. But they know the truth now so I don't know if they'll believe me if there's a next time. You know, the sickest part was that some of the guys said they were the ones who beat me up, just for the glory and ego-boosts. They wouldn't care that I was raped."

"Well there's not going to be a next time, Samara," Elliot promised, "we will catch this man." Samara laughed dryly.

"This man? He's anything but, detective."

"True," Elliot smirked, closing the pad and standing up, "we'll be back in a little while, you can wait out here with the other detectives if you'd like. My partner and I need to ask a few more people some questions."

"Detectives?" They turned back to the girl and she smiled slightly, "thank you." They nodded and headed out into the main room.

"Get anything more out of her?" Munch asked, turning away from his computer to face Olivia and Elliot.

"She was definitely more of a help this time," Elliot said, throwing the notebook down on his desk; he flipped through it, nodding approvingly.

"You got the entire story out of her, I see," he said.

"I think she now wants this perp locked up just as much as us," Olivia said, covering a yawn as she spoke.

"A little tired, Liv?" Fin teased, hanging up on the conversation he was engaged in only moments ago Olivia rolled her eyes at him, but nodded.

"We've been going back and forth all day," she said.

"Yeah, I think Ms. Lauff owes me a tank of gas," Elliot replied, glancing over at Olivia who agreed with him, "if she had just told us the whole story in the first place we wouldn't have had to bother her three times already."

"Well, it's not the last she'll see of us I'm afraid," she answered, rubbing her tired eyes, "because she's still linked to this and we may need her to testify if we can find the perp and close this case."

"So far, nobody knows about a scar-face," Elliot sighed, sitting down at his desk.

"Have you tried her school? Maybe some of her fellow students might know a scar-face. Friends?"

"Jason even said Samara doesn't have many friends," Olivia said, "she's a social outcast to them. Most of them made fun of her for claiming her rapist beating her was a school fight with another student. Some of the kids even said they beat her up for laughs. She's so ashamed of this whole thing and believes that those other kids won't even care that she's been raped."

"You think they'll say she was asking for it?"

"Possibly. Those other kids are brutal to her, with the insults alone."

"Though no one else has touched her?"

"She never mentioned any school fights besides her rapists'."

"No cat fights in the bathroom? No hall run-ins? Nothing like that?" Fin asked. Olivia and Elliot shrugged.

"I figured she would have brought them up when she spoke about them." Olivia said.

"Unless 'It didn't come up' is a common excuse among these people," Elliot stated.

"I doubt it…but maybe we should ask her again?" Olivia suggested, turning to her partner. He thought about it for a moment and nodded, "it couldn't hurt to at least ask and check."

_XxxxX_

"Samara, we need to know if you've recently been in any fights at school." Olivia stated. Samara glanced at the two curiously.

"You think someone at my school did this to me?" She questioned, "I don't mean to impugn your work, but I think I would know. I mean, someone walking around with a huge scar on their face would be a dead ringer, don't you think?"

"Well, you said that the kids bully you, it only seems natural that we should look into that, wouldn't you agree? It could be a good lead." Olivia explained, "Plus, people have many ways of covering things up."

"Wouldn't that get tiresome after two years?" Samara asked, "he had the scar the third time he found me. I assumed he got it from another one of his whores."

"You're not one of his whores, Samara," Olivia said in a strict tone, "you're a victim. You didn't give him your consent, you're not a whore." Samara was stunned by her tone but nodded, sighing.

"I think he rapes more women though," she said carefully, "I don't believe I'm the only one he sees. I've just been a main victim for a while."

"Well, once we find him, we find the other women and we help them too."

"Okay," she nodded, standing up, "can I go home now, with my parents? I'm really tired and I don't think I have anything more."

"We still need to know about any kids from your school."

"Oh right…" she said, sitting down again, "Um, I haven't been in any real fights with another student. I've been insulted in the halls and stuff…notes in the locker and that crap, but I haven't been in any fights. I've gotten threats about fighting, but they don't really put those words to actions."

"You can't think of any names?"

"No…but one of my friends, Amy Henderson has heard some things that she's told me about. Maybe she knows something."

"Okay, thank you Samara." Olivia nodded, "you can go home now if you want. We'll call your parents tomorrow morning if we find anything more."

"Thank you again, detectives," Samara said, standing up; she left the room and met up with her parents at the elevator. They left, leaving the case now to the _NYPD_.

"Pick up on the case tomorrow. I think you've got everything you can get for today," Cragen said, "Go home."

_XxxxX_

"More kidnappings," Kathy sighed, turning away from the tv as the kids ran into the kitchen for breakfast.

"Not many in Manhattan lately," Elliot said, "though that doesn't mean they don't occur. The _NYPD_s of Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens take care of their cases." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and sat down across from her.

"Hey dad, aren't you on the Samara Williams case?" Dickie asked. Elliot's eyes shot up to his son's face in question.

"Yes, how did you know about that? The case just started yesterday."

"Well I know her. Samara's in my history class," he replied nonchalantly, "but I overheard you telling mom about her last night."

"I only mentioned her name and briefly what happened, you know I'm not allowed to discuss any further into my cases," Elliot said, "so why are you asking?"

"I was just curious. I know Samara so I wanted to know," he said defensively.

"Can I talk to you in the other room?" Elliot asked standing up, heading into the living room. Dickie followed him, waiting for the string of questions he was expecting. "So you know Samara." Dickie nodded, "What do you know about the kids who bully her?"

"Not much…they call her queer, a freak."

"Do you know of anyone who'd want to hurt her?"

"Uh, well Andrew Clallum mentioned something about screwing her brains out but he's a perv who'll do anyone and get off from any girl." Dickie replied, "Sara Dryer has said somethings about beating her up until she can't walk."

"Nobody with a scar on their face?" Elliot questioned, glancing behind his son to make sure no one was listening in. Dickie shook his head.

"Sorry dad, nobody with a scar on their face." Elliot nodded.

"I'll see what I can pull from them. Go get ready for school. Don't speak to Samara about anything, got it?" Dickie rolled his eyes but nodded and went upstairs to get ready. Elliot walked back into the kitchen and Kathy turned to face him, looking towards the stairs as their son walked away.

"Everything okay?"

"I think Dickie may have just given me some leads." Elliot said; he wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her for a moment, "I love you."

"I love you too." Kathy smiled, "Will I be seeing you tonight, or no?"

"Depends on how this case goes. If not, don't wait up." Elliot replied, kissing her briefly once more before leaving for work.


	3. So Close

"Morning," Elliot said absentmindedly, brushing past Olivia as he looked through Samara's case for the fifth time that morning.

"Hey," Olivia replied, slightly amused by her distracted partner, "What are you doing?"

"Looking through everything we've gathered so far," he answered, glancing up at her briefly, "Dickie gave me some new leads this morning; he informed me that Samara is in his history class."

"Well if she knows Dickie I'm surprised she didn't pick up on your last name." Olivia said, taking the file from him, "Stabler's not exactly a common last name."

"Not to mention he's looking more and more like me every day." Elliot said.

"Just with more hair," Olivia smirked.

"Har har," he retorted, but grinning at the truth, "Those were Kathy's same exact words, too."

"Ah, well great minds think alike I suppose."

"Olivia, Elliot," Fin called, "Captain's looking for you."

_XxxxX_

"What have you gotten so far from Ms. Lauff and her sons?" Cragen asked, sitting down behind his desk, observing his two detectives as they took the seats across from him.

"Well, with the newfound information we know that Samara had reported the first rape to Ms. Lauff the night that it happened; her parents didn't even realize she didn't come home that night, they both claim they were working late but we haven't looked to see if their alibis check out yet. Jason and Samara both say the same as before, they haven't spoken in years and you saw the fight between them. Plus, Samara attacked him…Jason didn't lay a finger on her and he doesn't have a scar. James, her other son, was charged with identity theft, credit card theft, and assault a few years ago. And about a month ago he lost his license for a D.U.I." Elliot listed them off; Cragen nodded and turned to Olivia as she spoke up.

"James has a scar but not on his face; he's not charged for possession of drugs but from our visit it looks like his dealer is on speed dial. James works at a bar in Queens, he recently dropped out of college in his sophomore year, and he also overheard Samara talking to his mother about her first rape."

"And some new leads have come up," Elliot said, "It seems that my son, Dickie, has history with the victim. He also mentioned that Samara gets bullied by her peers constantly; one guy by the name of Andrew Clallum, the guy they fought about in questioning the other day, claims he had sex with her and a girl, Sara Dryer had said some things about beating her up until she can't walk. Mostly empty threats from the girl and a false rumor for an ego-boost for the guy…none of it has been put into action but I think we should bring them in for questioning anyway, set the story straight and maybe get some more information. Apparently a lot of students have witnessed and or taken part in the taunting. Samara doesn't think they'll care that she was raped because half of the guys claim that they've either beaten, or screwed her."

"Samara also told us about each of her encounters with the perp, in as much detail as she can remember. The beatings, the rape, the stalking…" Olivia handed the file to Cragen and he looked through it, approvingly. "We asked Samara if she kept the sheets from the rape, but she tossed them. She had her room altered to try and erase the memories so fingerprints are out of the question for now."

"Alright, go down to the school and get some statements from the peers and teachers," Cragen replied, closing and giving the file back, "Ask the girl if she still has the clothes from any of those encounters and if you find out anything more report back to me and we'll go on from there."

_XxxxX_

**Essex Street Academy  
350 Grand Street, New York, NY  
Monday, January 13**

"Hello, how can I help you?"

"I'm Detective Elliot Stabler, this is my partner Detective Olivia Benson, we're here investigating the case of Samara Williams. We need to speak with a few of your students."

"Samara Williams. She's a senior, star pupil. Great girl…did something happen to her? Is she alright?" The woman questioned, a hint of worry rising on her face.

"She's alright," Olivia nodded, "but we need to interview a couple students who may or may not be a part of this case. Nobody's in trouble we just need to ask them a few questions, get their statements in and we'll be on our way."

"Of course, which students in particular? I can send them down here to my office and you can ask them in there."

"Thank you. We're looking for an Andrew Clallum and a Sara Dryer." Elliot said.

"I'm sorry, Andrew transferred to Regis High School about two years ago…he still hangs around with old friends when he cuts though. You might just catch him around here somewhere. As for Sara, I'll send her right down." She left them as she made the call to Sara's teacher.

"That seems a little convenient, don't you think?" Elliot whispered to Olivia, who nodded in agreement, "The boy transfers before we can even question him…he's not off the hook that easily."

"Detectives, she'll be right down. Would you like to wait in my office?"

_XxxxX_

"Why am I down here?" Sara asked nervously; she looked pale, almost like she was scared to death.

"Are you alright? You look a little ill," Olivia asked, moving away from the window.

"No, I'm fine," her voice broke and she tried to swallow but her dry throat didn't allow it. Elliot cocked an eyebrow at her odd behavior and turned to face her completely. She was definitely hiding something.

"Are you sure? You seem almost…_guilty_ of something," Elliot accused, sitting down on the edge of the large, mahogany desk. "What is it? Maybe you should get it off your chest…let your conscious rest a little while."

"Can you just tell me why I'm down here?" Sara pleaded, forcing herself to look strong.

"Well, we were told by an anonymous witness that you threatened Samara Williams with violence. You claimed you would 'beat her up until she couldn't walk'. That seems a little far-fetched, especially for some school bully to a star pupil who hasn't done anything wrong to you."

"Oh that bitch," Sara smirked then, standing up. She crossed her arms over her chest and laughed, "She did nothing wrong to me? She's beat me out in every class and almost took my boyfriend from me!"

"Almost doesn't count," Elliot replied.

"Figures you'd side with her…since she's suddenly some victim of some fruitless threats." Sara rolled her eyes and breathed out heavily, "Samara is top of the class…in_ every_ class I have with her, even gym! Like what kind of pride do you get out of being the top peer in gym? That's why everyone makes fun of her, because she's some straight A+ freak from Pennsylvania," Sara laughed bitterly, "I can't believe she ran to the cops for some stupid, meaningless threats."

"Well threats can be taken seriously," Olivia said in a stern tone, "Especially when everyone is against one person."

"So I'm under arrest for threatening her?" Sara demanded.

"Are you in handcuffs? _No_, so you're _not_ arrested." Elliot snapped, "Now if you cooperate with us and answer, truthfully, all of the questions we ask we'll let you go."

"Just be thankful the school hasn't turned on Richard for his father being a cop," Sara hissed, glaring at Elliot as he glared back.

"What are you? The ring leader?" Elliot asked rhetorically; Sara rolled her eyes again but returned to her seat and sighed obnoxiously.

"Let's get this over with, I have lunch with my friends in twenty minutes."

"Fine. We need to know names; do you know of anyone who talked about really hurting Samara?" Olivia asked slowly. Sara shrugged for a moment.

"Well…I know some of the guys claimed they bedded her," Sara answered, "Most of them are pigs…definitely not guys she'd let in her pants, by any stretch of the imagination. There was Andrew Clallum who had a pretty convincing story about her…and him, you know, _doing it_."

"We're hearing a lot about Clallum…can you tell us about him?"

"Captain of the football team, sleazy man-whore…druggie…partier" Sara commented, examining her nails as though they were suddenly interesting, "…_liar_…Andrew was nice to her once, but it was like someone turned off the nice switch and he just completely turned on her. Made her look like a slut and turned the whole school against her."

"Has Andrew talked about hurting her?"

"Not really hurting her…I mean, he has his disgusting fantasies that no girl deserves to mentally star in but he mostly just talks about hooking up with her on weekends to satisfy his needs and make her feel special."

"Thank you Sara, that was very helpful," Olivia nodded, smiling slightly. Sara stood up, walking towards the door. She turned to face them with a remorseful look.

"Um, look…about me calling her a bitch…it's just jealousy, or whatever." Sara said suddenly, "and whatever happened to her, if she's alright soon I want to apologize to her…I don't know why, but just being here, being asked about her…Samara used to be my friend and I would hate to see her get hurt. I didn't mean anything I said against her."

"That was strange."

"And yet I don't know if I believe her fast transition," Elliot said, skeptically.

"Well, we know that Samara and Sara were once friends…she's heard Andrew, possibly along with many other students, that he's supposedly had sex with her every other weekend…to make her feel special."

"How sick can this kid get?"

"Rapist sick?" Olivia suggested, Elliot shrugged but upon hearing about the boy's reputation, he didn't put the thought past him. "Let's head back to the precinct and see if we can get more of a story out of Samara."

"Or Ms. Lauff. She still needs to answer our other questions about that night."

_XxxxX_

"Find any more information?" Munch asked as Olivia and Elliot entered the precinct.

"Actually yes. It seems Andrew switched schools about two years ago, probably around the same time Samara's perp got his scar. And from what Sara's told us, it seemed he had fantasies, all of them starring Samara. Maybe he finally let his urges get the best of him; from his reputation, rape doesn't seem too out of his range." Elliot explained, sitting down at his desk. Olivia sat on the corner, handing him a pen from hers. He began to write down the new information in the record.

"It also came to our attention that Sara was once friends with Samara; she showed us a sudden change in heart towards the girl," Olivia said.

"Maybe out of guilt?" Fin asked.

"Maybe," she agreed, "but when we first brought her in she definitely seemed guilty of something."

"You don't think she set this perp on the girl, do you?"

"I don't think so," Olivia replied, "no woman asks for rape, nor sets a man on another woman. Every woman in against it, there is no way she would find that as a reasonable way of revenge."

"Didn't she threaten Samara with violence?"

"She did, but Samara told us she only threatened, she never actually did it. And her rapist is the one who beat her up each time." Olivia said, "once in the school stairwell, so it was someone who knew how to get in and out of the school without being noticed."

"And since Andrew transferred, cuts school often, probably goes out for a few smokes, he knows his way in and out," Elliot concluded, "it fits…it works for me and everything about him just adds to it. It's not looking good for him. Especially since he left two years ago and Samara mentioned that the perp got his scar a couple years back. Nobody aside from his friends at Essex have probably seen him, so if he does in fact have a scar on the right side of his face, from his eye to his lip, then he's our guy. Case closed, and Samara can live in peace again." Six pairs of stunned eyes looked up at Elliot; his problem solving was intricate and almost perfectly figured out, but it needed to be proven first.

"Do we even need to work today?" Fin asked, "it seems your partner, Liv, has got all the answers."

"If they are correct," Olivia said.

"Well I think Liv and I should check out this Andrew kid before he slips our grip."

"Detectives…" They turned around to see Sara standing there with the same guilty look on her face, "Can I speak to you again…I—I wasn't completely honest back in the principal's office." The four exchanged a curious glance before Olivia and Elliot led her into a question room.

"Okay, Sara…" Elliot said, sitting down across from the girl, "what do you need to tell us?"

"The moment you mentioned Samara, I knew why you were asking."

"Sara, are you saying you know who attacked her?" Olivia asked as they were both on edge to hear her answer. Sara shook her head.

"That I don't know, but I did see her get attacked."

"When?" Elliot asked.

"It was February 6, 2009," Sara said quickly, "I only remember the day because that was the day—uh, night that I just spaced on everything but what I saw. I was out for a walk with my brother and my dog and my brother, Alex, told me to wait outside the pizza shop with Cassie, our yorkie, while he locked up…it was close by, only down the road from the café that she was attacked at," she swallowed, her eyes watering, "I…I saw Samara but I didn't know it was her at first. There was a hooded guy who came out of an alley and he pulled her into a couple of bushes. She started screaming, but then she grew quiet and I didn't know if he killed her or what. My brother was taking a really long time inside and when I asked him what he was doing he said he lost his key and had to go up to the office. But before he came down, the guy got out of the bushes and was closing his fly as he ran away in the opposite direction. We didn't stick around and I wanted to go back but I didn't think I could. If…if he killed her, my stomach wouldn't have lasted and I realize how selfish that is now. I would have tried to stop him but I saw the knife in his hands and I just panicked…I could only watch."

"You witnessed Samara getting raped, but you didn't call anyone?"

"I know! I should have! I should have gone to her but I didn't!" Sara sobbed, "And I will forever be sorry for that! But then the next day I saw her at school and she actually looked okay…but she was afraid of every guy who came near her. She pushed her friend Jason away. Her brother committed suicide the week after that and she just looked so lost. I don't even know why I hurt her like everyone else…she was so _broken_. I didn't help her at all. And that was around the time that Andrew got close to her. I don't know why, but he tried to comfort her after her brother died. I just assumed it was because his father did the same thing when he was eight."

"Do you know why Andrew transferred schools?"

"Uh, he got expelled for drug possession and drug dealing on school property." Sara answered, "If this case goes to trial, am I going to be put up in front of the jury?"

"If you want to testify. We can't make you, but you're a witness which would help Samara's case greatly," Elliot explained, "this was a lot of information you held back."

"Well I knew, afterwards, that whatever I told you would remain confidential…you know, until the trial."

"Well thank you, Sara. We'll keep your statement on file."

_XxxxX_

Elliot knocked on Cragen's office door impatiently; they backed up as he opened the door and glanced between the two of them. "We've got some new information, and a witness that should help the case a great deal."

"You found a witness?" Cragen asked, surprised.

"She just confessed to what she had seen the first night Samara was raped." Olivia replied, "We just need the perp and we've got a solid case. And from what we've gathered, we have a sneaking suspicion about Andrew Clallum. He was arrested two years ago for drug possession and drug dealing on school property. He transferred to Regis High, and Elliot has a theory."

"And what's this theory of yours, El?"

"Andrew Clallum, his reputation around Essex has not been good; he used to constantly torment Samara, making her look like a teenage sex-machine with little, to no self-esteem. From what we've heard, she was the number one star in his fantasies that go beyond the R rating. From drug dealing, it's possible he could be sporting a nice scar that he could have gotten right after he left and transferred to Regis High. This perp knew how to get into the school, and though that might not prove much, Andrew was known for cutting school often, maybe going out for a few smokes or drinks. He would need to get back into the school somehow. Only his good friends at Essex have probably seen him recently and because they respect him they're less likely to rat him out."

"Perhaps you should bring him down here for questioning. Check to see if your theory is correct and if it is, we have our case," Cragen said, "and for once, I_ strongly_ believe in this theory."

_XxxxX_

"Andrew Clallum! Is there an Andrew Clallum here?" Elliot asked, jumping out from the driver's side with his badge already out.

"Oooh, you just missed him," a kid replied smugly. "Can we ask who you are?"

"Detectives Stabler and Benson. Where'd he go?" Elliot demanded.

"Don't know…the boss has got a busy schedule, we can't keep up with him or catch him unless we got a big amount of cash."

"Where is he?" He repeated, impatiently.

"I don't know. What? Are you deaf, Detective?" The cronies surrounding the kid snickered, and Elliot glared around at them for a moment.

"If he's skipping town and you know about it, I won't hesitate to arrest you for being an accessory." There was a chorus of 'oooh's as Elliot stepped off the sidewalk and got back into the car with Olivia. "That son of bitch isn't here."

"And we have no way of finding him now." Olivia sighed, "It seems like this kid doesn't exist yet his name comes up everywhere."

"What are we going to do, Liv?" Elliot asked, pulling out into the road.

"Maybe we should get Samara back down to the station and ask her if she could explain Andrew a little mo—," Olivia was cut off by the ringing of her phone; she picked it up instantly, "Captain? Yes…no, we didn't get him yet…" Elliot glanced over at her and she looked up, meeting his gaze with a look of horror, "Okay, we're on our way."

"What's wrong?"

"Samara's parents found her in her room…Captain just said she killed herself. He wants us down there right now."


	4. Busted

**Williams Residence  
Apartment 3B, Spring St., Lower Manhattan, NY  
Monday, January 13**

"I knocked, she didn't answer…I panicked and grabbed the spare key out of my jewelry chest." Mrs. Williams sobbed, speaking fast. "When I opened the door, I didn't see her…but I noticed the scarf hanging from the fire escape. I got closer to the window and there she was just lying there on the fire escape. She tried to hang herself but it looked like she couldn't do it and just choked herself instead."

"Detectives, can we see you over here for a second?" An EMT asked, motioning them over to the window. They nodded and headed over.

"What is it?" Olivia asked.

"I'm no doctor, but I know enough to figure out that she didn't kill herself."

"She was murdered?"

_XxxxX_

"She was definitely strangled with the scarf." Melinda said, holding up the blue, red-stained fabric. "The scarf was thick enough to hide the large bruise that was just forming on her skin. It left a ring. But she's at the hospital now, the EMTs managed to revive her. It's not uncommon to be brought back after a while…she's lucky. She should be resting up about now."

"I also did a kit on her, and she was raped again; there was some vaginal tearing. The perp took care of himself first with a condom, so no fluids were found. The second time was with a sharper object, something metal. I can't be sure of the exact tool. But the perp was kind enough to stop her watch at the time she fell unconscious…3:38pm. She was already gone when he took care of his needs."

"So he's not opposed to necrophilia," Elliot said, looking uncomfortable.

"The perp kept her alive for so long, why wait for now to try and kill her?" Olivia asked.

"He must have found out that she confessed. So now we definitely need to find Clallum."

"Oh, before I forget," Melinda walked over to the counter with the scarf and condom wrapper. She picked up another bag and walked back over to the two detectives, "Though it's not in my department, the note was given to me when she was brought in." Melinda said, pulling the note out from the bag and unfolding it. She handed it to their gloved hands and they examined it quickly.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Elliot asked, confused.

"I used my microscope because it seemed a little off to me and I noticed that the handwritings don't match at all," she explained, handing them a paper from her homework folder, "so she never wrote this suicide note. Though I'm pretty sure you already knew that after what I just told you."

"So the perp wrote it for her."

"And from what I can tell, they have a similar script, however, they were just a little careless with trying to make it match. Whoever it is, they're a professional at recreating another's handwriting…possibly a credit card or identity thief who signs others signatures so it goes unnoticed more often than not when they're ordering or buying something."

"James…" Olivia and Elliot said in unison.

_XxxxX_

**Residence of James Lauff  
Apartment 8A, 175th Street, Queens, NY  
Monday, January 13**

"James! Open up! It's Detectives Stabler and Benson!" Elliot knocked loudly on the door, listening for a moment to hear if James was going to answer. "James!" He looked over at Olivia as she readied her gun; he followed in suit and stood back, kicking the door open.

No smoke filtered out this time, there was no sound. "James?" Olivia called, stepping into the living room. There was a shuffle from up above their heads and Elliot ran for the stairs, "James! Can you hear us?"

"Liv!" Elliot yelled from the upstairs floor, "I found him! Call a bus, quickly!" Olivia ran up, stopping only a few feet behind her partner as he kneeled down next to the young man lying on the ground.

"This is Detective Benson, we need a bus at Apartment 8A on 175th Street, south in Queens." She called it in, getting a response back immediately.

"James? Stay with us, we've got a bus on the way," Elliot said, trying to keep the man awake. His breathing came out in short rasps as he nodded. His head fell to the side and Elliot did his best to keep him up. "Looks like our perp tried to rid us of another piece of evidence."

"He didn't succeed this time." There was another loud shuffle and they turned in time to see a black coated figure exit out the fire escape.

"Don't let him get away!" Elliot cried as Olivia took off after him.

"Fin! Pull the car around! There's a suspicious person exiting through the fire escapes in the side alley! Don't let him get away!" Olivia said over the talkie, chasing him down the same route.

"Copy that," Fin replied. He jumped out of the car, spotting a person running out of an alley, "Hey! Police! Stop right there!"

"Fin he's getting away!" Olivia yelled, trying to speed up.

"We need back up!" Fin said into his talkie, "We need every alley, fire escape, and escape route blocked off!" They turned the corner and the figure was gone, "Where the hell did he go? We were just behind him!"

"Please tell me back up got him…" Olivia replied, catching her breath. Fin buzzed in another call; their worries were met when they were informed that no suspicious figure tried any escapes, "Someone's got to be harboring him…he couldn't have just gotten away and slipped by the back up."

"And we can't get a warrant for all of these apartments and shops without a solid case."

"Dammit." Olivia sighed. Elliot came down, out into the street. His hands were covered in James' blood, along with his shirt.

"What the hell happened?" He asked, wiping the blood off with a small hand towel an EMT gave to him.

"Your perp's one hell of an escape artist," Fin said, looking around the street.

"How did you let him get away?" Elliot demanded.

"We weren't trying to!" Olivia replied, her tone forceful, "We were right behind him and then someone evidently let him into a building. The back-up says that nobody suspicious tried escaping on any rooftops, fire escapes, alleys, or gateways." Elliot's phone rang then, and he picked it up quickly with a snappy tone of voice. "Who was that?"

"Captain. And he's pissed, so we're in for it when we get down to the precinct," Elliot answered, closing his phone. He shoved it back into his pocket and sighed, "We're both gonna get it now."

_XxxxX_

"You clearly have no case now!" Cragen yelled, pinching the bridge of his nose; he was frustrated and angry, "The girl's in the hospital…yes, someone tried to kill her, I'm well aware of that," he said, stopping Elliot before he even added his response, "Someone tried to kill the Lauff boy, too, and you let him get away. I understand that you have a good amount of evidence," he said, slightly calmer, "but this case will not get past the DA unless you have the suspect in custody. Right now, you only have leads and whether those leads are resourceful or not doesn't matter to a grand jury. We need our evidence to be backed up a hundred percent. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," both Elliot and Olivia said quietly.

"If you can't find the suspect within the next seventy-two hours, then I'm closing this case."

"You can't do that!" Elliot cried, "This girl was raped, we can't just drop her case. Who's to say he won't succeed in killing her the next time? Do you really want that reflecting on the Manhattan NYPD?"

"If you don't stop letting your emotions handle the job, then you can't be on the case." Cragen said slowly, "I need you two to be focused. You're my best detectives, I don't want to see this case close just as much as you don't, and I definitely don't want to see that young girl murder but if you can't handle it and find this perp, then it's out of my hands." They nodded one last time and exited the office quietly. Elliot turned to face Olivia then and sighed heavily.

"Whoever's trying to kill off our witnesses doesn't want to be found. He, or she, is very good at keeping their name off the record and their hands clean."

"All the more reason to work harder, El," she said, "We need to find them quickly." Her phone rang for what must have been the ninth time that day. "Detective Benson…we'll be right there. James wasn't so lucky. They had to put him into medical-induced coma. The mother's down there and from what I could here, it looks like Jason just arrived."

_XxxxX_

"You just had to involve my son in this mess!" Ms. Lauff yelled, glaring at the detectives as they entered the room.

"Mom, it's not their fault." Jason interrupted.

"Shut up Jason!" She growled, "If you hadn't interrogated my son he wouldn't be in here like this! Jason could be next!"

"We didn't put your son here, Ms. Lauff," Olivia said, "Someone is trying to eliminate the witnesses so his or her case can't go to trial. Samara was recently attacked; she was dead for no more than ten minutes before the EMTs revived her. James is still alive, doesn't that give you some hope that he'll be able to walk out of here alive?"

"I don't want to see you people around us again, do you hear me?"

"Yes, we're sorry we bothered you," Olivia nodded, "Come on, El." They left the room sooner than they had hoped; this wasn't anything new, they knew this routine all too well.

"Well that was pleasant," Elliot said as they reached the lobby.

"Yeah, she hates us and thinks we tried to get her son killed." Elliot could see this deeply affected his partner. She wanted nothing more than to help the poor girl down the hall. They couldn't do that without the help of the people who knew her around that time. "You should go home, it's getting late and Kathy is probably waiting for you."

"I told her not to wait up. We can't let this affect us, Liv," He said softly, "You heard what captain said—,"

"I know, Elliot!" Olivia hissed, shaking her head, "I'm fine. I'm not letting it affect me, I just don't think she's telling us everything and with her excluding us from doing our job this case will be dropped and the perp's gonna walk. Samara's not going to trust anyone to help her out if we can't catch him. We need to do something."

"We could charge her for obstructing justice—,"

"We can't charge everyone on this case. There's always something to charge them with, yes, especially when they're keeping us from doing what we have to but the judge won't want us to waste his time."

"Okay, Olivia, you can punch me after saying this—do whatever you want—but I'm your partner in crime her and I'm going to say it." Elliot said, shaking her by the shoulders some, "You're letting this case get to your emotions, whether you'll admit to that or not. I let my work get to me too, but we have to push that aside and do what's right. Now what's right to you?" They were silent for a moment before she sighed.

"I want to punch you," she said quietly, "but something's telling me that's a wrong choice. I think we need to talk to Samara again, once she's awake. There's got to be something she knows about this person, they wouldn't attack her continuously if it weren't something personal."

_XxxxX_

"Samara, can the detectives have a word with you?" The nurse asked, peering into the room. Samara nodded and the woman stepped aside to let them in, "twenty minutes, I'll come back to give you your meds shortly."

"Hello detectives," Samara mumbled, her voice came out raspy.

"Samara, how are you feeling?" Olivia asked, sitting down next to the bed. Samara shrugged.

"Okay I guess. I mean, aside from being dead and all…you know…"

"I know we've asked you this a lot but we really need you to think about any details that you might have overlooked or just put in the back of your mind."

"Like what?"

"Well…how about any tattoos?" Olivia suggested, "Did your attacker have anything on his arms or his face that you might have caught a glimpse of?"

"I mostly shut my eyes," Samara replied. She then closed her eyes as though she were reliving it, but she was thinking harder, "…erm…I think I remember a tattoo on his wrist. Uh, the inside of his thigh too."

"Okay, that's good. Could you see what they were? Did they say anything?"

"The one on his thigh was a Chinese character, if that helps. I don't speak Chinese so I don't know what it said…the one of his wrist was a number I think, like a phone number."

"Did you know any of the numbers?" Elliot asked.

"Well, the area code. I knew those numbers. The others, not so much. I know it consisted of at least three sevens." Samara answered, "I remember seeing the number on my way to Jason's that first time…but I didn't see it on my attacker's wrist then. I think it's his, but I'm not sure."

_XxxxX_

They pulled up to the curb across the street in front of James' apartment; they needed more answers that they knew they would no longer get from the family; they still had the warrant from the previous encounter. "There's a girl on the steps." Elliot looked over to where Olivia pointed and the girl was watching them; she was smirking as she waved at them.

"I see you watching me, detective!" She called. Elliot was about to step out when Olivia pulled him back.

"Wait, what are you going to do?" Olivia asked.

"Going to say hi," Elliot replied, with a smirk of his own. Olivia's jaw dropped slightly and she punched his arm.

"You do remember you're married right?" She questioned, "And that she's half your age. Probably not even legal."

"I'm kidding, Liv," Elliot laughed, "But either she moves from that stoop or she screws up our investigation. Either way, I have to talk to her. I'm too loyal to Kathy anyway."

"When you're not undercover," Olivia teased, "you're my work husband."

"And you're my work wife," Elliot said, "so if you stop nagging at me like a real one," Olivia rolled her eyes, "I'm gonna ask her to move away from the crime scene." They both stepped out and walked across the street, walking closer to the apartment building.

"Hello," the girl said, biting her lip. She glanced up at Elliot in an attempt to be seductive; he brushed it off but his eye caught sight of her tattoo, "What can I do for you?" She took a drag from the cigarette she was holding before throwing it on the ground.

"What's that number for?" Elliot asked.

"What? This?" She pointed to the tattoo on her wrist; Elliot nodded and she smirked, "I'm afraid I'm not allowed to give that number out. Maybe you should come back with a search warrant and maybe we'll talk."

"We'll today must be our lucky day," he said, handing her the slip of paper, "now let's talk about that number, huh?" She laughed and unfolded the paper.

"Sorry, still can't issue it out." She replied, "Besides, this is a warrant for his house…not for the number."

"Just tell me."

"You'll have to do better," she said, "now, suppose I ripped this paper up right now? Would you arrest me?"

"Let's see, what would the charges be for that one, Liv?"

"Well, I'm no attorney but I know enough about the law to tell you that you'd be charged with obstruction of justice, for one. You'd lose some rights because when you're handed a search warrant you're supposed to remain silent and stand aside. But my partner and I have our legal ways of getting this answer out of you. Also, since that number is linked to our case you could be charged with contempt."

"That seems like a threat, detective," she replied innocently, "Why, I haven't done anything wrong."

"What's it gonna take for you to give us that number?"

"What do you have?"

"Alright," Elliot finally said, yanking the girl up by her arm; she protested loudly but he put the handcuffs around her wrists, "are you going to tell us now or do we have to bring you down to the precinct?"

"Why don't you try your detective schemes on someone who gives a damn?" She retorted.

"And why don't you just answer the damn question?" She sighed loudly, obnoxiously.

"Fine, it's for the members of our cult." She replied, "Like an I.C.E. type of number…it automatically connects back to our cult leader."

"Oh yeah, who's that?"

"You got your answer, now let me go." Elliot didn't like it, but he unlocked the handcuffs and back away, heading back to the car.

"How much do you want to be we know who's on the other end of the line?" Olivia asked, getting into the passenger's side.

_XxxxX_

When Elliot and Olivia stepped into the precinct, they failed to notice it was almost completely deserted. The lights were off except for the few in the hall and the ones in Cragen's office, "Looks like he's still here." He spotted them through the window, looking more tired than usual. He stepped out of his office slowly, shutting the door behind him.

"Munch and Fin left about an hour ago," he said, "I don't want to tell you this because the case is already stressful enough, but it is in fact _your_ case, I don't suppose there's a way around it."

"What happened?"

"It seems our perp is a sociopath." Cragen replied, "Not even twenty-four hours after his last attack and he's already gone after another."

"Who did he attack this time?" Olivia asked, outraged, "He's trying to obliterate this case! Now _that's_ definitely obstruction of justice!" Elliot nodded in agreement but returned his attention to Cragen.

"He went after Sara."

"Is she alright?"

"The EMTs brought her to the hospital about twenty minutes ago," Cragen answered, "weren't you two down at Mercy General earlier?"

"Yeah, but we went to get something to eat, we've been working nonstop all day," Elliot said, "Looks like Kathy's not going to see me until tomorrow night."

"You should go home," Olivia said again, "I'll head down there and—,"

"Liv, this is our case. You're not doing it alone," Elliot said, "believe me, as much as I'd like this mess to be over and go home, I'm not letting you take all the credit." He was teasing and Olivia smirked in response. "What do you want us to do, Captain?"

"I want you to head back down to the hospital and make sure she's alright. She's our leading witness on this case, we need her." Cragen ordered, "I'll have Alex get her a court-order of protection tomorrow morning." They hadn't even taken their coats off as they headed back out and drove down the familiar streets.

"First Samara, then James, and now Sara. Neither of the girls probably wants to testify. James can't. We have no prints from the perp and we still can't find Andrew Clallum." Elliot sighed, frustrated. He pinched the bridge of his nose, deep in thought. "Whoever it is, or if it's him, he's really trying to keep this case from going to court."

"So basically, we no longer have a case if this all falls through." Olivia said, shaking her head in disappointment, "What are we missing?"

"The son of a bitch," Elliot said.

"We're going to need to find Andrew, now more than ever."

_XxxxX_

**Mercy General Hospital  
Tuesday, January 14**

Elliot stepped up to the front desk first, holding up his badge, "We're back."

"How can I help you this time detectives?"

"We'd like to see Sara Dryer, she was just recently brought in about forty-five minutes ago. Let me just check and see if she's awake, wait one moment." The nurse disappeared for a few minutes before she came back and confirmed that Sara was alright to see them. "You can go in."

"Thank you." They went down the hall, unsure of how badly the attack was. When they turned into the room they didn't expect it to be as bad as it looked, "Sara, we heard about what happened." Sara bit her lip, nodding slowly. She looked nearly close to tears and let one slip before she drew in a large, shaky breath.

"He tried to kill me," Sara said, looking away from the two detectives to glance out the window, "I don't know who he is, but I did get a look at his face…well, the part that was unmasked."

"Sara, did he rape you?"

"No, but a few more seconds and he might have," she replied, "I kicked him between the legs and ran. I stopped behind a dumpster and called the police from a cellphone I pulled out of his jacket pocket…" This caught their attention, giving them a large swell of hope in the case.

"You got his phone?"

"Uh yeah, the EMTs took it and put it in the locker they gave me."

"Was it a disposable phone?" Olivia questioned.

"No, I don't think so. It looked like one of those TracFones or whatever they're called."

"Where's the locker they gave you?" Elliot asked, "If we get that phone than we can nail this perp. What's the number?"

"Um, locker eighty-seven I think."

"I'm going to go get the phone, you stay here with her." Elliot said, leaving the room in a rush. He stopped one of the EMTs in the hallway, nearly demanding the key to the locker. "I need that key. The phone's not hers; it's evidence." When the other man saw how desperate Elliot was to get the key, he resigned with a nod and went through the keys on his chain before handing them over to Elliot.

Elliot took off for the lockers, searching until he came up to number eighty-seven. He jammed the key into the lock, turned it, and flung the locker door open. The phone sat on top of her clothes; he picked it up with a plastic glove and put it into an evidence bag. On his way back to the room, he handed the keys back. "We've got him now," Elliot smirked as he stepped into the room, "that was some helpful fast acting on your part." He praised the injured girl and she smiled weakly.

"I'm really tired, can I go to sleep now?"

"Of course, thank you again Sara," Olivia said, offering her a smile before they left the room.

"We'll drop this off with the lab and see if they can get any DNA," Elliot said, "I think we may have this case finally. Capt'll finally let us handle the rest now."

"Given that it's the perp's real phone and not a disposable," Olivia objected.

_XxxxX_

"Good news," Melinda said, bustling into the precinct the next afternoon, "We have a match on the DNA from the phone, and I think you're going to like this."

"What do you have?" Elliot asked.

"This perp's prints were already in the system from earlier charges; a few identity theft, one grand theft auto, and one assault charge. Sara's prints were all over the phone as well, but your perp is none other than Andrew Clallum. He was wearing gloves during the assault, but he's used that phone on a daily basis, bare handed." Elliot and Olivia glanced across their desks, satisfied with the results.

"Any idea where we can find him?" Olivia asked.

"I've been doing some digging," Munch said from his desk, "And it looks like he's still registered at Regis High School, despite all of his absences. But he also still lives in the upper Manhattan. Apartment 5J on 25th Street."

"Pick him up," Cragen ordered.

"Gladly," Elliot replied, standing up.

_XxxxX_

**Clallum Residence  
Apartment 5J, 25****th**** Street, Manhattan, NY  
Tuesday, January 14**

"Police! We're coming in!" They barged in, kicking the front door open forcefully.

"What the hell are you doing? You can't barge in here!"

"This warrant says we can," Olivia replied, handing the woman the slip of paper, "Ms. Clallum we're looking for your son, Andrew. Is he here?"

"Andrew hasn't been here all day."

"Where is he?"

"The hell if I know, he's eighteen I don't care what he does now."

"Where is he?" Elliot demanded again.

"He's been at work since six this morning," she said with an aggravated sigh, "Do you have a warrant to search his work too or are you just gonna barge in there and arrest him?"

"Not yet," Elliot replied, "we're searching for the weapons he used on two witnesses and a post-victim he tried to murder. If you don't mind," he brushed past her to the second floor, with the woman right on their heels.

"My son is not a killer! How dare you just accuse him! You have no evidence!"

"We have forensic evidence, ma'am." Olivia replied, stopping her from taking a step into the room, "And we have his cellphone that the victim managed to grab from him while he was attacking her."

"Someone probably stole his phone off of him!" Ms. Clallum yelled, "Why aren't you out there looking for him? He could be hurt!"

"We will be out there looking for him once we find the weapons." Elliot stated in a hard tone, trying to keep his patience with the woman, "Please don't make this harder; your son is already in a lot of trouble. If you stand in the way of our job you will be held with contempt."

"Mom?" Elliot ran past everyone in the hallway with Olivia right behind him, "Mom what's going on?"

"Andrew Clallum?" Olivia called back, entering the kitchen where he stood like a deer in headlights; he took off out the front door, "He's running! Everyone outside now!" Police flooded out of the house and chased him down the street as he sprinted around a corner. "Don't let him get away this time!" Elliot sped up, almost able to reach him.

Andrew's foot caught on to a nearby cart and he nearly tripped; Elliot grabbed the back of his shirt and pushed the kid into the wall. He pulled the handcuffs out of his pocket and tightened them around the boy's wrists, "What the hell man! I didn't do anything!"

"Yeah, that's why you ran away," Elliot rasped, pulling him backwards so he was standing upright, "Why don't you try telling that to a jury. We've got you now." Olivia caught up then, watching as Elliot dragged him to the car, "Andrew Clallum, you're under arrest for the rapes of Samara Williams, and the attempted murders of Sara Dryer, James Lauff, and Samara Williams. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one with be appointed to you."


End file.
